


BioSub

by NixC



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, BAMF Kaidan, Biotic Shepard, Dom/sub, F/F, F/M, I'm Bad At Titles, M/M, Original Character Death(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Tags May Change, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-25
Updated: 2015-08-29
Packaged: 2018-04-11 03:49:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4420100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NixC/pseuds/NixC
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“What are we going to do with him?”<br/>He finally pushed away from the table and pointed his flashlight at the giant test tube, built into the far wall of the room.<br/>“I think we should bring him back with us.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Yay, my first Mass Effect fic.  
> This has not been beta read and I haven't really edited it so I apologise for any mistakes.  
> I will be adding tags as the story goes on because I'm not entirely sure where it'll go. There is going to be hurt Shepard and probably talk of non-con and ignored safewords so the rating and warnings are also going to change.

‘What is the point of this?’  


‘Well, you are here because – ’  


‘No. I know why I’m here. I’m not like the others. Someone out there, someone important, decided that meant I’m not normal, that I need some person in a white coat to poke around in my brain so they can ‘fix me’. ’  


‘That’s not - ’  


‘Sure it is. At least that’s what you know. Did they even tell you what’s supposedly wrong with me or did they just tell you there’s a freak they needed you to talk to and threw you in here?’  


‘Finding out what’s wrong is part of my job. ’  


‘Of course they didn’t. Why would they? Look at you, you’re so eager to please. I’ll bet you’d do anything to get the slightest bit of recognition. Who’s to say you won’t just … Why are you looking at me like that? Are you not used to people talking to you like this? What did you expect, a crazed psychopath? ’  


‘No, it’s just that … usually my patients don’t glow.’  


‘Oh? This? Kids these days call it biotics.’  


‘I know that.’  


‘I see you are one too. Why be surprised then?’  


‘You’re a submissive.’  


‘… and?’  


‘I’ve never heard of a biotic sub.’  


‘Well now you’ve met one. Congratulations.’  


‘No. Submissives – ’  


‘What? Our bodies are too week to withstand the energy? Or maybe our minds are so fragile the biotics are guaranteed to drive us crazy?’  


‘That is usually what happens, yes.’  


‘Have you seen it happen?’  


‘No, but I’ve he – ’  


‘You’ve heard of it. I’ve heard some people say there are talking dogs and magical creatures that grant wishes. I never believed them though. Should I have?’  


‘That’s different.’  


‘How is it different?’  


‘It’s all made up. It’s fiction.’  


‘How do you know what you heard is true?’  


‘The doctors – ’  


‘Oh yes, because doctors are never wrong. Isn’t it human nature to make mistakes? I know it’s sucks to admit but come on, even doc- ’  


‘When several well-established doctors from opposite ends of the world, who have never even heard of each other, say the same thing it’s a little hard to argue.’  


‘It’s never hard to argue. Actually it’s quite ea- ’  


‘Besides that how do you know you’re right?’  


‘Well I’m a sub. I’m a biotic. My body hasn’t shut down yet and I’m pretty confident in my mental stability. Why, I’d say I’m living proof I’m ri-’  


‘No. What you are is living proof that you’re an anomaly or, as you said, a freak. Besides that, it has been statistically proven that 90% of potential biotics, who died because of their biotics before showing their inclination, were also predicted to show as submissives.’  


‘Predictions aren’t the most trustworthy thing in the world. I can predict the world will end tomor-’  


‘This one was built on facts. It hasn’t been conjured up by a mere sub, a defective one at that. Not to mention you have not been in subspace in the past decade.’  


‘Was that a jab at my inclination, doctor? Isn’t that forbidden in your profession?’  


‘… I think that is enough for today’s session.’  


‘Great. I’ll see you when I see you doc.’

* * *

  
‘Hey, you’re back. I’d say it’s good to see you but that would be lying.’  


‘Sit down.’  


‘Ooh. Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed today. You know I – ’  


‘I would like to apologize for what I said last time. It was a wrong thing to say and – ’  


‘Oh so that’s why we haven’t had any sessions till now. You got in trouble for that.’  


‘Yes, but let’s – ‘  


‘You disappeared for a month. I was starting to get worried. Your substitute was nowhere near as fun as you.’  


‘I suggest you drop the sarcasm. It’s giving you away.’  


‘What?’  


‘I’ve read your file and watched some of the security tapes. From what I saw, it seems you use harsh sarcasm and humor as a defense mechanism.’  


‘That’s – ’  


‘I must admit, it took me longer than it should have. You do a very good job of hiding it, making it look like it’s an integral part of your personality.’  


‘I’m always sarcastic.’  


‘True. But it’s never scathing. Whenever you feel cornered, as I imagine you do right now, your voice gains an odd undertone. Angry yet scared.’  


‘Sca- ’  


‘Now, usually I’d say it’s normal. A lot of people do that. However, to constantly be in that state? It can’t be healthy. Especially in your case – ’  


‘And what exactly is my case?’  


‘You’re a sub. A biotic on top of that – ’  


‘Yes, we’ve establi- ’  


‘You also haven’t been in subspace for almost half your life. That is a combination that should have rendered you useless years ago.’  


‘Well, it hasn’t.’  


‘Not yet. There’s a very big chance it will, however. While we can’t change what you are, we can work on the third issue.’  


‘What? No!’  


‘No need to get- ’  


‘You can’t force me into it. I won’t let you.’  


‘It’s not a matter of “let”. It’s more about what drugs affect you and in what quantity.’  


‘You’ll get in deep shit for this. If the stupid remark from last time got you sent away for a month, this might just get you fired.’  


‘I’m doing this to help you.’  


‘You can sho- ’  


‘Aside from that, I have already been permitted to do as I see fit with you. You see, when enough negative reports come in about a single patient, our employers tend to let go of the reigns and trust us to do what is needed for positive results.’  


‘What are you doing? Stay away from me.’  


‘There’s no need for… Oh God. How are you doing that? Guards! ’  


‘You should have just left me alone.’

* * *

  
“Was that the last of them?”

The man’s husky voice echoed in the dark room, bouncing off its concrete walls and floor. He turned to his teammate, who was leaning heavily on the steel surgical table in the middle of the room. They had looked through the research equipment set up in the corner as well as what little data they could decipher and understand from the old devices and papers strewn across the floor. Just the thought of the experiments carried out in this very room had been enough to send the soldiers’ shared lunch crawling back up their throats. One managed to hold it in, the other was still having trouble standing straight.  


“From the ones we managed to decrypt? Yes. We’ll need EDI for the rest.” Came the strained reply. As big as the soldier was, he had an even bigger heart. What he’d read and heard, what he could see right in front of him made him want to kill anyone connected to this sickness.  


“What are we going to do with him?”  


He finally pushed away from the table and pointed his flashlight at the giant test tube, built into the far wall of the room.  


“I think we should bring him back with us.”  


“Ok, great. How the hell do we get him out of there?”  


He watched as the man moved to the test tube and gently placed his hand on the glass. There was a flash of blue light. The glass cracked and the odd liquid, keeping the test subject afloat in its ‘home’, started to slowly drain.  


“What did you do?”  


“I just touched it.”  


“You used biotics on it.”  


“I don’t think that was me.”  


His head quickly turned to the man, who was still watching the subject in the tube.  


“What?”

The biotic shushed him, just in time for them to hear the mechanical seals on the door release. The water drained completely right when the door slid open and the man inside it fell into the biotic’s arms. He pressed two fingers to a spot on his neck, searching for a pulse. It was barely there. His skin was ice cold and his body was completely limp.  


“We should hurry,” said the biotic as he carefully moved the man over his shoulder and ran to the exit, the soldier following close by.


	2. Before the Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dr. Chakwas' life before the event that changed everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At first, the whole thing from Chakwas' POV was supposed to be one chapter. Then it got long and I got stuck and felt bad for taking this long to update. So here it is.

Anyone who knew Karin Chakwas could tell you she’d had one hell of a life, including the woman herself.

She was born in the year 2165 in a small colony that was currently just a shell of what it used to be. She’d had caring parents, who doted on all three of their children. She was the youngest of the family as her sister and brother were nine years older than her. Yes, both of them, they were twins – they had been twins. They had also seemed to have a special kind of connection. It was as if they always knew what the other was thinking. Because of that, little Karin often felt the slightest bit left out. 

When they’d entered their teen years they became even more enclosed in their little bubble, only ever sharing things among themselves, never going into the farm to play with her. They had only just entered the intricate labyrinth that was puberty and, on top of that, they were soon to be rated. Her mother had tried to explain to her what that meant. Back then the words sounded odd: dominance, ratings, dependability, etc. Karin hadn’t understood a thing but had nodded her head nonetheless. She’d just wanted to go out and have fun. 

Her father seemed to be the only one to realize that. He would take her out to play games like tag and hide and seek with her while her mother worked on the crops nearby, glancing up at them every once in a while. She would let out a quiet laugh every time her husband pretended to trip or not see Karin.

Looking back now, the doctor couldn’t help but cringe at how clueless she had been as a child. The hints didn’t stop at her father’s warm, nurturing nature and her mother’s reassuring but commanding presence. There was also the way the usually quiet and all-too-reserved women of the colony would flock around her father as they walked through the colony. How the big, rough men would clap her mother on the back as they walked by, when they never laid so much as a finger on any other woman.

Clueless as she might have been, she had not been blind. She’d also been too curious for her own good, going around, snooping through her siblings’ things. During one of her little ‘investigations’ in the twins’ room she’d come across one of her sister’s books (apparently their grand-grandmother had given it to her when she’d come to visit on the twins’ 13th birthday; Karin had been too disinterested to remember). On the cover there had been a couple, gazing lovingly into each other’s eyes as the sun set in the distance, casting a romantic atmosphere over the embracing silhouettes. Having just turned eight, she hadn’t thought much of it. She’d seen her parents hugging each other all the time, why would this be any different. She’d read the whole thing, even though more than half of it didn’t make any sense, and put it right back where she’d found it. However, she had supposedly learned how grown-ups acted when they liked each other. 

This is why, when her family had come home from one of the colony’s gatherings, she pulled her parents aside and, with a grave expression and the most serious voice she could muster, asked them if they liked anyone other than each other. They shared a wide-eyed look, turned to her and laughed like she had never heard them laugh before. By the time they stopped and caught their breath, they were brushing away tears of laughter and she was pouting, crossed arms, scrunched up nose and all. Her mother lifted her up in her arms, brown eyes twinkling as she grinned widely, her father stepped up next to them, dimples on full display. They both kissed her on the top of her head, her father’s hand ruffling the dark locks fondly afterwards, and they told her there was no such thing. That was the end of that.

At some point she started to connect the dots, thanks to what little she’d remembered from her mother’s lecture. Whenever she got bored she would play a game in her mind – putting people she saw or knew into different categories. At first there were two: ‘rough’ and ‘soft’. She started by separating the colonists – most of the men went in ‘rough’ and the women – in ‘soft’. Her parents seemed to be the only residents of the colony to defy that – her mother going in ‘rough’ while her father was in ‘soft’. Not that they actually were like that, but her mother always was the more intimidating, even colder, of the two and her father was just so nurturing. Then she’d tried to categorize her siblings but found that she really couldn’t, so a new category popped up. She called it ‘question’. Yes, well she had never been the most imaginative kid.

Then she started noticing something strange. When two people of the same category came into contact, one of them seemed to change. She’d once seen two ‘roughs’ start to argue. At some point one of them tensed, a deep rumble came out from his chest and the other bared his neck before backing away. There were times when a ‘softy’ got aggressive toward another from the same group. She’d heard her mother call those softies possessive – apparently her father got that way on occasion. It was all very weird and too contradictory in her young mind. She kept playing her game but she no longer took it as seriously.

By the time she could happily announce herself to be eight and a half years old the twins had finally gone back to normal. She’d been overjoyed when her brother had snuck up behind her and spun her around. Her sister even called her up to their room so she could paint her nails and do her hair. She had her siblings back. Not only that, but she could put them in her categories. Unlike their parents, her brother was in ‘rough’ and her sister – in ‘soft’. She wasn’t sure what exactly had happened but she didn’t care.

Everything seemed to be going back to normal. A few months passed and her parents started acting strangely. Her mother was getting more and more irritable and her father… He just seemed tired all the time. His smiles became a rarity, his laugh even more so and he didn’t even sound like himself. The worry lines on his face seemed to have settled there permanently, the frown between his eyebrows more prominent than ever. Even the twins were more subdued than usual. There were days when doctors would come to their house. She didn’t like those days – the house itself felt colder and everyone looked miserable. It was almost like something was sucking the life out of them. They were all hiding something from her and she didn’t like it. Either way, she blamed the doctors, with their sterile smell and patronizing tones.

One morning, she woke up to her mother’s panicked yelling. She ran to her parents’ bedroom – even though her brother’s voice, deeper than usual, made her want to turn back - and barged through the door. Before her sister managed to push her back out, Karin caught a glimpse of her mother’s tear-stained face and her father’s prone body on the floor. She was carried to her room and dropped on her bed, where her sister cradled her and rocked back and forth. It was then she realized she’d been crying. Time was flying. At some point she could hear sirens in the distance. A second later their wailing was deafening – she might have screamed along with them because her sister held her tighter and shushed her frantically, even though her own lips were quivering. Then it was like everything just stopped – she could no longer hear the sirens or feel her sister’s arms around her, the house was completely silent, no sound could be heard throughout its structure, not a single voice carried through the hallways. She felt cold and numb. Right before she fell asleep she thought everything would be alright when she woke up. That’s how it usually was.

The funeral was held two months later. Karin swore she was going to save lives when she grew up.

Her mother lost a lot of her energy and that feeling of safety Karin used to get around her was no longer there. She stopped taking care of the farm and rarely got out of the house. When she did, the other ‘roughs’, as Karin had taken to calling them, never came near the woman. Some looked at her strangely, while others averted their eyes whenever she was in the vicinity. Instead it was her brother that made little Karin feel safe and protected. He scowled at anyone who so much as looked at any of his girls wrong and made sure the crops didn’t die. His twin hadn’t been much help at the beginning – she’d been in denial, acting like their father was still there, like nothing had ever happened. One day she’d said something about that to their mother. He hadn’t managed to break the fight up before any blood was shed, but everyone had gotten out of it alive, so he’d counted it as a win. It also snapped his sister out of whatever had gotten into her. After that she took care of Karin when he couldn’t and vice versa. Things were getting a little easier.  
The twins had a minor freak out once they realized their little sister knew nothing of dominants and submissives. They’d taken it upon themselves to teach her (even though she would have had a class on it by the time she turned 13). When they’d told her about the separation between doms and subs and the occasional switch, she’d beamed at them and told them about her little game. They’d laughed a bit at her over-simplified version of things. It had been amazing to see them do that again.

Time passed and slowly healed their biggest wounds. Karin’s ninth birthday rolled around and she had basic understanding of the concept of doms, subs and switches and even a bit of how rating worked (she tried to play her game with the new names, just to get used to them, but they occasionally slipped her mind). Her mother had stopped her constant mourning and tried to live, instead of just surviving day for day, but it was obvious something was still eating away at her. Her brother had earned the respect of most dominants in the colony, which allowed him to take on a part-time job as a ‘fallback’ dominant for uncollared subs and replace their mother as protector of their household. Her sister had solidified herself as the brain of the family, being a straight ‘A’ student and fixing whatever got broken around the colony to earn a little extra cash on the side. With the money the twins were bringing in, they threw Karin a birthday party and she finally got to see everyone genuinely smiling again. 

Karin’s auntie came to visit a week later – “Fashionably late,” she’d said. At first Karin had pouted, pretending to be mad at her for missing her actual birthday. Then she’d seen the colorfully wrapped box behind her legs and made to grab it. Her auntie had grinned (in that way that reminded her of her father), pulled the box away from her and pushed her cheek toward her.

“Give me a kiss and I’ll give you the gift.” Karin had laughed at the baby voice she’d used. She’d done what she’d had to do to get her hands on that wonderful box. She’d torn the wrapper off and gasped, perhaps a bit too loudly, at what was inside. It had been a book. She still had the damned thing. Even then, it had been nothing too special but it had been big and it had a skeleton on its, otherwise, bland white cover. It was enough to grab the nine-year-old’s attention (as much as she hated to admit it today, she’d been very easy to entertain at that age).

As she’d leafed through it she heard her mother.

“Where did you find an actual book?”

“A small shop on Earth.”

“When did you go to Earth?”

“I live there.”

“What?”

“There are so many things I want to tell you,” her auntie had said, grabbing her mother’s hands before turning back to Karin, “But first, I tell this one about the book.”

Her auntie had followed her to her room and told her amazing stories about her job as a doctor in a hospital on Earth. There were funny stories, some were borderline silly, and there were those that reminded her of her daddy. She’d been fascinated by it all (she’d been spared from the gory details of the job) and dove into the book like there was no tomorrow.

That was the day she decided to become a doctor. She swore she'd be better than those who treated her father.

Her auntie stayed for a couple of months and had long private talks with her mother at least once every three days (even the twins weren’t privy to them). Karin wasn’t sure exactly what it was they had talked about but it changed something. She didn’t know what it was but it got her mother smiling and laughing again and the twins were more relaxed.

Things were looking up after that. In the course of one year, her mother began to look alive again and she got out of the house more often. The other doms weren’t as cautious as before but they still gave her a wide berth. The subs, on the other hand, were more willing to show some sympathy (the ‘collared’ ones were an exception as their doms didn’t let them get too close to her). Her sister had found herself a potential dominant, who had had a hard time getting around their brother. He was getting more and more protective (“caring” as he’d called it) over the girls, as if something was urging him to do so. He wasn’t the only one to do so either - all of the protectors were acting unusually twitchy.   
The only one to truly react to it was Manda, an elderly woman, who was always a little out of it but otherwise pleasant to talk to (even so, most of the colonists avoided her). Karin felt badly for her. She was a lonely sole – her husband and son had both been military. One day her son had missed his video-chat with her then her husband hadn’t come back when he should have. A few days after that (Karin had been five - just old enough to remember it) a tall scarred man in uniform (a dominant through and through) had come with a pair of dog tags cradled in his hands and sorrow in his steely blue eyes. They had hugged and the man had stayed with her for a few months before a shuttle came to pick him up. No one outside of the colony had visited her since.

The kids on the colony didn’t know all that (and why would they). They saw her unruly white hair, wrinkled face and odd choice of clothing and pegged her as an old hag (they did their best to avoid her because of that). Karin wasn’t one of them as she had spent a lot of time talking with the lady. Her father had visited her every morning after breakfast and took his youngest with him. “Everybody needs a friend,” he’d said when she’d tried to get out of it the first time. It didn’t stop her from complaining throughout the ten minutes it took to get to Manda’s home, but it did get her to behave around the woman herself. She’d asked her father to stay longer than usual so Manda could finish her story about heroes and princesses. 

After that Karin was the only child to willingly go into the woman’s house and that had made her a hero to the other colony kids, for a while anyway. Even though the novelty of it wore off quickly, Karin kept visiting Manda, who seemed surprised at the fact. After her father’s death Manda had actually come to their house. Her mother had been borderline aggressive but it hadn’t stopped Karin from talking with the elder, opening up to her and learning of her losses: “No matter what happens, those who have a place in your heart, will live on for as long as you do,” she had said, not knowing just how much she’d helped the little girl.  
She usually kept to herself in her small home, coming out only to get some groceries. However, only a day after the protectors’ odd behavior began, she’d started staring out of her window, knocking on its sill every time a protector or a high-rated dom passed by. She would randomly pull someone (always a sub) to the side and tell them to hide. The dominants hadn’t taken to that very well and had shown her as much. She stopped doing it.

When Karin visited her after the accident with the doms, Manda was ecstatic and looking more alive than ever. At first Karin had thought it was an exaggerated reaction to her, much earlier than usual, arrival but later found out otherwise. There was a young man (by her current standards) sitting at the round table in the woman’s kitchen. He was wearing a black leather jacket, with a red stripe down one sleeve, over a gray shirt that showed off his broad shoulders and narrow waist. Not that Karin noticed that at her age. However, she did notice his eyes – a shade of royal blue that she had never really seen before. He was smiling widely as Manda fawned over him, repeating how surprised and pleased she was that his squad was sent to their colony. Apparently he had only just arrived before Karin knocked on the door.  
Seeing Karin’s confused face the man turned to her and explained that he was an Alliance soldier, whose squad was on shore leave on their colony. She ran to the window and indeed there were men and women, who she had never seen before, walking around outside (it might not seem like much, but in a colony as small as theirs everyone knew everyone). She’d been in so much of a hurry that she hadn’t noticed them. She turned back to the man, wide-eyed and shooting out questions faster than she could even think them.

The man chuckled warmly.

“Well, first off, my name’s John.”

She cut him off before he could continue. He answered each of her inquiries with a smile. Soon enough, Manda joined Karin in her ‘interrogation’. They were just getting into a story with thresher maws when the door opened and in stepped another man with a distinct scar on his face. It started at his cheekbone and ended just as it entered his upper lip. 

Karin recognized that scar, as well as the steely blue eyes the man possessed.

“You’re the guy with the dog tags,” She pointed at him. John’s laugh rang out in the house when the eyes of the new arrival widened comically, even though the rest of his features stayed as they were. 

“Steven!” The woman rushed over and welcomed him with a crushing embrace. The man returned the hug but kept his suspicious eyes on Karin – “What…?”

“She must have seen you when you came here four years ago. You’re not all that hard to miss,” Manda guessed as she went back to John, cupping his cheeks and looking at him with a motherly kind of love. She wrapped one hand around the back of his neck, the other resting on his chest, and pulled him down to kiss his forehead.

“God, I haven’t seen you two in so long. We have so much to talk about.”

“I was actually hoping to talk to you in private,” Steven looked at them pointedly.

John grinned and walked to the door, gesturing for Karin to follow him – “How about you and I finish that maw story?” She would never admit it but she actually skipped after him.  
When she got home later that day, her brother bombarded her with odd questions as her sister did her best to talk him out of it. Apparently she’d been smiling too much. That probably explained why the word ‘boy’ had been mentioned as often as it had.

Nearly a week passed and there weren’t even the slightest of hints that the soldiers were leaving anytime soon. On the contrary, it looked like they were settling in. Initially they’d slept in their vehicles (big, armored things that should not have been as agile as they were) but soon a camp started to form just outside the colony border. She’d asked John about it once. He told her they didn’t want to impose themselves on anyone and laughed when she tried to convince him otherwise. 

Regardless, some of the colonists were getting suspicious and rumors were spreading like wild fire as everyone seemed to have their own version of what might be going on. There were only three things everyone agreed on – the one with the single long scar on his face was their commander, all the marines were capable of hiding their inclination and were definitely lying to them.

Karin didn’t quite grasp what was wrong but she, almost constantly, felt like she had butterflies in her stomach. She didn’t realize it then, but she owed that feeling to the rising tension which had everyone wound up to some extent. Her mother had said it was due to her birthday being right around the corner. In truth, she could feel it too – something bad was coming. 

The next morning, as Karin was walking to the old woman’s house, a shuttle flew overhead, headed to the camp. Her decision to visit John and Steven at the camp later had nothing to do with her curiosity.  
When Karin told Manda of the shuttle she paled, several emotions flickering through her eyes in a fraction of a second. The momentary panic passed quickly – almost as quickly as the woman went across the room and out the door, beckoning to Karin to follow her.

“I think it’s time we paid my boys a visit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's that. Hope you enjoyed it, sorry if it seemed boring. I think the 'explanation' on the sub/dom stuff might not be the best. I'll work on it in future chapters. Please leave a comment, tell me what you think.

**Author's Note:**

> So that's that. Criticism is much appreciated. No, really. Please leave comments. I'd love to know what you think of this.


End file.
